Struggle Lies Within
by Selphie Kinneas 175
Summary: In-game. Hope is upset and Lightning comforts him as best she can. What will happen to Hope in his state of weakness? Set when they first arrive on Pulse and is centered around Hope and the time he receives his Eidolon. Lightning/Hope/Snow friendship fic.
1. Lightning and Thunder

**A/N:** This was my first Final Fantasy XIII story and it is rather short because it is centered around Hope and the time in which he obtains his Eidolon. The italic phrases at the beginning and ending of each chapter are the song lyrics from Serah's Theme (english version). They're there because they fit quite well and it ties it all together considering the title of this story is from the song as well. Enjoy :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy XIII.

* * *

**Struggle Lies Within**

_By: Selphie Kinneas 175_

Chapter 1: Lightning and Thunder

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_Make my wish come true... Let darkness fade to light._

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"You okay?" Vanille shouted to the boy clutched to her hand over the roaring wind rushing past their ears as they plummeted to the grassy terrain below them.

"Oh yeah, I'm great," Hope sarcastically responded, praying in the back of his mind that his friends were falling behind them, coming to their rescue.

His prayers were answered as he heard the call of Fang yelling, "Grab on!" as he was suddenly pulled onto the back of her massive, flying Eidolon just barely in the nick of time. He paused a moment to catch his breath after that terrifying near-death experience.

Hope couldn't believe his eyes; was he dreaming? He had never seen anything like this in his life, he never even _imagined _Pulse looking like this. It looked… beautiful, but also frightening... very foreign.

"Home sweet home. Welcome to Gran Pulse," Fang could be heard stating warmly in front of him.

What was so sweet about it? Sure, it looked amazing, like something out of a picture book, but that monster certainly did not give him a great first impression of the place. As they soared above the fairytale landscape, Hope noticed all the wild beasts and huge monsters that stampeded and raced each other below them, and he felt a twinge of fear.

"You guys okay?" Snow asked the two youngest of the group, seeing as how they probably both just saw their short lives flash before their eyes.

"Yep!" Vanille replied in her usual happy tone, smiling brightly as she did so.

"Yeah," Hope said quietly with a nod in Snow's direction.

All of his young life he had heard horror stories about Pulse, about how it was hell on earth and all kinds of other horrible things. Yet, here he was, about to set foot on that same hell. He was terrified, and he wished his mother was there with him, telling him that it was all going to be okay, but she never was.

Vanille was the first to jump onto Pulse terrain, soon followed by Snow who held out a helping hand to Lightning which resulted in a scoff as she ignored the gesture and she was the next to land on the alien ground. Sazh soon followed suit and Fang did as well, waiting until almost everyone was off since she controlled their transportation.

"You comin' or what?" Fang's smooth accent rang in the young boy's ears.

Hope nodded quickly and jumped down, not wanting to annoy his older friends. He already felt like he had to try harder than everyone else just to fit in; he didn't want to push his luck.

Vanille took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "Ahh…"

"Feels good to be home," Fang stated as she stood beside Vanille and they took in the surroundings together.

"Sure is strange…" Lightning said quietly as she, Sazh, Snow, and Hope all looked around just the same as Fang and Vanille did; only they were more confused and dumbfounded whereas the two Pulse natives were more exhilarated and glad to see their home again.

"Ya got that right," Snow responded to who he liked to call 'sis,' although she didn't enjoy it very much at all.

"I sure wish Dajh could see this," Sazh chimed in.

Hope was quiet; he didn't exactly know what to think. He felt very apprehensive and nervous about setting foot on the lower world dirt, but he had done just that.

"Well," Fang spoke up loudly, "It's nearly dusk and there appears to be a storm comin'," she pointed out the dark, gray clouds circling overhead, "We should settle in for the night."

"Right," Lightning responded, looking around for somewhere that provided coverage if said storm did eventually occur.

Vanille nodded in agreement along with Sazh just before Snow began trekking ahead in search of some shelter for the night saying, "Leave it to me!"

Lightning scoffed and rolled her eyes at the 'hero's' statement, resulting in a small giggle from Vanille.

"He'll never find anything soon enough by himself," Lightning stated dryly as she chased after him in hopes of helping them find somewhere to sleep before the storm hit.

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After a little less than an hour of searching, they found a small recess flooded with trees with massive branches, providing plenty of overhead coverage for when the rain came.

"This oughtta do it!" Snow stated in satisfaction at their newfound location.

They went and retrieved the others just before rain began pouring down on them harshly. Hope covered his head with his arms in an attempt to keep himself dry as he entered their current campsite for the first time.

"I'll take first watch," Fang announced as she grabbed her lance and spun it around, waiting for the others to tell her what order they would take the watches in, so that she would know who to wake up when her turn was over.

Fang had the first watch, going from dusk until late evening. Sazh had second watch, lasting from the late evening until midnight. Snow had the third watch, covering the time between midnight and the early morning before there was any sunlight. Finally, Lightning decided on the last watch of the night, entailing the hours of the dark, early morning until daybreak. It had been decided that Vanille and Hope would not be expected to keep watch as they were both quite young and their strong suits dealt more so in the area of healing and defenses rather than offenses. They protested, wanting to pull their own weight, but Fang simply would not let Vanille sit out in the night by herself guarding their territory, while Lightning and Snow would not allow Hope to risk himself in that same way either.

"Alright, it's settled then. Now off to sleep, all of you," Fang ordered sternly. Despite her tone and mannerisms, she was really only trying to look out for her companions, even though it came off as slightly bossy and demanding sometimes.

Sazh laughed quietly to himself as he thought of the fact that he was being ordered around by 'kids' as he laid down beside the fire that Vanille had magically conjured up moments ago.

They all laid down, with the exception of Fang, in their respective areas across the campsite and to most of them sleep came easily, but not to all of them. Lightning seemed to always have insomnia. For as long as they had been on this journey it had been nearly impossible for her to fall asleep every night. Hope was the other person that was having difficulty falling asleep on this night; he couldn't shut his mind off. He was a boy far beyond his years; any of his comrades on their journey could vouch for that. Even at his young age, thoughts and worries plagued his mind that usually only bothered adults.

While Fang was on duty, she sat in front of the largest entrance to the remote area they occupied, and she watched over Vanille like a hawk. Of course, she kept an eye on everyone else and continuously searched in every direction as well, but it was in her very nature to worry about Vanille; she was not going to let her out of her sight again. The young Pulsian warrior grasped her spear, fiddling with the points lazily, waiting for her shift to pass. Thoughts flooded her mind of their Focus, their brands, and their futures. The hours passed by slowly, and it was finally time for Fang to awaken Sazh.

"Hey," she whispered to the older male on the floor, trying to keep quiet so that no one else would be disturbed. She shook him rather violently, "Wake up old man, it's your turn, I want my rest too."

He groaned slightly and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "Alright, I'm up."

Sazh spent the hours of his watch examining his pistols, as there wasn't much else to do. He spoke to himself a little bit, but he also carried out some quiet conversation with the chocobo chick that took residence in his bushy hair.

Upon the stroke of midnight, Sazh's shift came to a close and he practically skipped over to Snow, overjoyed at the fact that he could finally go back to sleep. Waking up Snow did not come easily, as he was a very deep sleeper, but he eventually did, and the tall, young man took to his post proudly.

All throughout his watch, he had a hold on Serah's crystallized teardrop, hoping he could hear something, anything at all, from her. The three hours of guarding the campsite went by relatively quickly for Snow, and it was time to awaken Lightning.

"Hey, sis," he shook her gently, waking her instantly as she had just barely begun to fall asleep and she was a light sleeper anyway, "Your turn."

Without a word, the young woman grabbed her gunblade which she always kept at her side as she slept, stood up, and walked over to where she would stand guard. Snow sighed slightly and had no trouble falling back asleep whatsoever.

Lightning stood at the front of the clearing, leaning against some rubble that acted as a barricade to their base camp. For a little while, she stood polishing her gunblade, until she realized that despite the large branches overhead, some raindrops still made their way through the brush and there was simply no point in attempting to get her weapon shiny. She sighed slightly as she looked up at the bits of sky she could see through the leaves and twigs of the strange Pulsian foliage. She noticed Cocoon hanging peacefully in the night sky, beyond the lightning and rain.

As she turned around to look at her friends and companions, she smiled lightly to herself as some of them looked rather amusing. Vanille was curled up closest to the fire, hugging her knees to her chest for more warmth. Fang was directly behind her, being the protective person that she was, she situated herself so that if Vanille made so much as a twitch, she would know. Sazh was a few feet behind them, stretched out on his side with the chocobo chick rested beside his chest.

Snow was sprawled out to the left of the fire, beside some ruins, Serah's tear clutched in his right hand. Lightning was pretty surprised that anyone could sleep over his incessant snoring, and she laughed silently as she noticed him drooling profusely. To the right of the fire, quite a ways away from the group was the small form of Hope, curled up into a ball like Vanille, only not as tight of a ball as the young redhead was. Lightning noticed him shivering and wriggling slightly, concluding that he possibly had trouble sleeping like she did, but she didn't want to bother him in case he _was _sleeping.

She quickly turned back around in case something had been coming; she didn't want to be caught off guard. There was nothing there, and she settled back into her previous position.

When she heard a small whimper from behind her, she looked back over her comrades, seeing if there was something amongst them, but there was nothing. Suddenly, a loud, booming roll of thunder exploded throughout the sky, and she noticed Hope twitch; it must have startled him. She also saw Fang wake up at the sound, but she quickly fell back asleep when she realized it was nothing more than mother nature, not something looking for a nighttime snack.

Lightning turned to face forward again, only to be disturbed by rustling sounds behind her. She sprinted around, gunblade at the ready, but saw nothing. It was then that she noticed that Hope was missing, and she instantly became panicked. She kept her sword up in case something had taken the young boy, and she hurried past the spot where he had been resting. Beyond that spot was another clearing with fewer trees than their campsite had, and Lightning began feeling chilled as more rain began sprinkling down upon her. She continued searching when she began to hear very quiet sniffling sounds from behind a nearby tree. She slowly crept up closer to the sound when a single beige-ish colored tennis shoe came into view.

Lightning inched closer until the small, shaking form of her dear friend and little brother figure entered her vision. She sighed and mentally scolded herself for overreacting; she thought he had been taken and killed or something worse.

Hope was seated at the base of a tree, with his back against the trunk and his left knee pulled up against his chest while the other laid straight out in front of him – which was the single shoe that caught Lightning's eye. He had his arms folded over his bent knee and he rested his head on top of his arms; he appeared to be _crying_.

Lightning studied him for a moment, his crying getting her upset like hardly anyone else's could. She reached out a hand and placed it on his quivering shoulder as she said, "Hope?"

The poor boy must have not heard her approaching as he jumped something awful in fright and snapped his head in her direction.

As soon as he realized that it was Lightning, he quickly looked away in embarrassment. "Oh, uh, sorry Light… I uh… didn't know it was you," he stuttered quietly as he tried desperately to wipe away the tears without her noticing.

She knelt down beside the distraught young boy, trying to look him in the eyes while he continued trying to avoiding her's. "Hope," she spoke up kindly, "What is it?"

"I-I'm fine," he muttered, still trying to erase any evidence that he was crying from his face.

"Hope, you can talk to me," she said again, that trademark Lightning smile that everyone loved adorned on her features – Hope saw it out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn't resist.

"I'm just… so sad," he began, "I had a bad dream… about my mom… I miss her so much," he sniffled.

Lightning seemed a bit shocked at his statement. It's perfectly normal and expected for someone to grieve and be depressed after the loss of a parent, she was just taken aback because she never heard him speak of it anymore; she was surprised it still bothered him so much because he hid it so well. But then again, she had to remind herself, he _is_ still just a child.

Hope averted his gaze to that of his shoe, where he fiddled with the laces shyly. "I've been trying so hard to be strong, Light… it's just-,"

She cut him off, "No, Hope, there are times when it's okay to break down. Losing a parent… I know it's hard. Don't beat yourself up because you're upset. It's _human_ to be in mourning," she still knelt down beside him, a hand on his shoulder as she bent down farther trying to move into his line of vision so that he knew she was serious.

Hope looked up at her and she smiled a small smile in his direction. The moment sat still for a bit as he lingered on her words; was it really okay to be weak sometimes?

He started to look down to the grass and sob again, but Lightning placed a finger underneath his chin and lifted his gaze to her's, saying, "You're not alone, Hope, the others and I will always be here for you."

She lowered her hand and his face remained level, "It actually kind of sucks for you, you know," she turned around so that her back was also against the tree trunk and she sat beside him on the ground while he gave her a perplexed look, "You're basically stuck with me and those nutcases," she finished with a smirk.

Hope couldn't help but laugh at her statement; it made him feel better to hear that despite the loss of his mother, he would still always have people that loved and cared for him right here.

Silence fell amongst the two for a few moments, until something that Lightning had said was itching at Hope's mind, and he had a question for her.

"Hey, uh, Light?" he spoke up, looking at the side of her face as she looked straight ahead.

She turned to face him, "Hm?"

"What you said before… how it's okay to be weak sometimes?" he looked down at his shoes again.

"Uh huh?" she urged him to continue, looking at his face as she tried to predict his question.

"Have you ever felt weak before?" he asked as he looked back up at her.

Her gaze fell to the floor for a brief second, and then she turned it up towards the stars, thinking about his question and what her answer would be.

"Many times," she finally whispered.

Hope's jaw dropped, he was sure that her answer was going to be 'never' simply because he had never witnessed a weakness in her; he pictured her as almighty, fearless, and strong, not weak in the slightest.

Lightning saw the shock on Hope's features from the corner of her eyes and continued, "When I lost my parents, I was all Serah had left. I wasn't sure what to do or what to say to her to make her feel better, because I knew in my heart that there was nothing anyone could say or do to make _me_ feel better. I had to be strong for her, but really, I was so _weak_," she spoke as she gazed up at Cocoon cradled amongst the stars, "When she first told me that she was a l'Cie… I didn't believe her, I _threatened_ her… another sign of weakness. I couldn't – or maybe just _wouldn't_ – accept that I had let something like that happen to her, the one person in the world that I was obligated to protect."

Hope looked down at the blades of grass blowing in the wind, but he didn't say a word.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and then back up at the stars, "I felt weak just now, when I couldn't find you."

The young boy looked up at her instantly, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Lightning looked down at him, "I thought I had let something happen to you, and it was like what happened to Serah all over again. You feel like a little brother to me, Hope. I really care a lot about you," she said sincerely, looking down into his emerald eyes.

Hope's jaw was open ever so slightly; he was shocked that she felt that way.

"I, uh…" he stuttered dumbly for a moment; he had no idea what to say. That simple statement warmed his heart so much that he couldn't even justify it in words.

Lightning smiled crookedly, dismissing his attempt to speak, "You must be tired, go ahead and rest."

He mentally scolded himself for not saying anything when he had the chance, but nodded at her statement nonetheless, "Yeah, I _am_ tired…"

Lightning quickly glanced back over the others as she remembered her watch-guard duties, and when she looked they were all still asleep, safe and sound. She took a few moments to examine the area thoroughly, until she heard shivering coming from beside her. She quickly turned around to see that Hope had already fallen asleep that quickly, and he was shivering – he must have been cold from the rain. She gently moved his upper half into her lap, trying not to awaken him but attempting to give him warmth from her body.

The young woman sat at the base of the tree with Hope in her lap, staring up at Cocoon. Moments passed by quickly and she felt herself drifting off to sleep. Realizing it was still her job to protect her sleeping friends, she shifted in her position slightly, attempting to wake herself up more. In doing that, Hope began wriggling and moaning – maybe he was having another bad dream.

"Shh…" Lightning soothed him as he slept, hoping to shoo away any nightmares he could be having.

Hope relaxed and let out a contented sigh, as did Lightning.

She watched as the sunlight began flooding the dark night sky – it was truly a beautiful sight; much more so on Pulse than on Cocoon. Oranges, yellows, reds, and pinks filled the sky like wildfire before her eyes, and she wished Hope was awake to see it. Little to her knowledge, he slightly was.

"Light?" the silver-ish blonde boy whispered.

She looked down at his slanted lids and responded, "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Lightning couldn't help but smile, and without a second thought she said, "Anytime."

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_Love will not leave you... Hate will not heal you._

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	2. Hope and Despair

**Struggle Lies Within**

_By: Selphie Kinneas 175_

Chapter 2: Hope and Despair

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_Show me there's still hope… Show me it's not over._

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Their first morning on Pulse was beautiful and exhilarating; the Cocoon natives had never seen such a sight. The way that the sunlight danced upon the clouds in the early morning hours with the vibrant green grass and skyscraping flowers as a backdrop was breathtaking. The storm from the night before left traces of dew on all the leaves and trees nearby, making them seem to sparkle and glitter in the bright rays of the sun. There were a few clouds left in the atmosphere, but they only helped make the sky _that _much more beautiful – if that was even possible. How could anyone call this place hell?

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the Pulsian accent of a tall, young brunette said proudly as she approached the edge of a cliff where one of her comrades was standing and enjoying the foreign view.

The color of blue that the young woman adorned caught the side of Snow's eye, and he turned to face her, "Yeah, it is." The tall, muscular blonde glanced at the crystallized tear grasped in his palm, and then back up at the sunrise before uttering, "I can't wait until I can show Serah this place."

Fang couldn't help but smile at his optimism, but she soon changed the subject.

"Do you suppose we should wake 'em?" she asked, referring to the sleeping forms of Lightning and Hope at the base of a nearby tree. They had fallen asleep in their previous positions – Lightning was seated with her back against the tree trunk and Hope laid comfortably in her lap.

Snow chuckled at the sight; he loved seeing everyone come together as a family and it touched his heart, but he knew he was going to have fun teasing Lightning about it later on.

"I'll get 'em up," he said with a smirk in Fang's direction and she smiled back as a giggle could be heard from Vanille in the background.

The young man walked up to them casually and quietly, feeling that the best way to approach a sleeping Lightning is calmly – he didn't want to startle her and lose an arm or something. He gazed down at them for a moment. They looked rather cute, Snow thought, as they slept beside one another lovingly. The pair looked like a mother and cub in a way; she came off as a protective guardian figure – Snow smiled at the thought.

Lightning looked beautiful in her sleep. Of course, Snow only had eyes for her sister, Serah, but he could still admit that Lightning was beautiful. Her head fell limply to her left side as she sat up against the tree. The tall, blonde male never could understand how she was able to fall asleep sitting upright, but then again, she did a lot of things he couldn't understand. Her salmon colored hair fell loosely across her porcelain face, blowing gently in the wind while she slept. She had her left hand rested on Hope's shoulder, while her right limply sat atop her gunblade's hilt. Her legs stretched straight out in front of her with Hope's upper half rested in her lap. Snow wished he had a camera.

The others noticed Snow staring for a few moments and they decided to come have a closer look as well.

As soon as the two came into Vanille's line of vision, she covered her mouth with her hands and grinned the biggest, goofiest grin in the world and chirped, "How cute!"

Fang smiled and Sazh chuckled at the sight as well.

"Well, would ya look at that. Soldier girl's not completely emotionless," Sazh said with a laugh, resulting in giggles from Vanille.

"Alright, alright, enough of the show," Fang spoke up, "Can we get moving?" she finished a bit impatiently.

Snow nodded and moved in closer to the pair on the floor. "Hey," he whispered, "sis," and he began tapping her gently.

Lightning moaned softly and her eyes began moving beneath her closed lids before she slowly fluttered them open – she always was the easiest in the group to wake up in the morning, in fact, she was _usually_ the _first_ one up. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes for a moment and was about to get up until she remembered that she was being used as Hope's pillow.

Realizing that the rest of the group was staring at her, she looked at them with an annoyed expression and raised an eyebrow saying, "What?"

"You two are just so cute! Sleeping beside each other like that! Aw!" Vanille squealed.

Snow chuckled until he saw Fang's annoyed glare in his peripheral vision and decided it was best to stay on her good side. Hurrying up the process, he said, "Sorry to wake you Light, but we need to get moving."

Lightning relaxed her expression and looked down at the sleeping boy on her lap. He was on his side with his back to her, but she could still see half of his sleeping face. His silvery blonde hair blew lightly from the breeze blowing through the area, but it didn't hide his features. Seeing as how it had only been an hour or so since their conversation that night – or early morning – his face was still a bit tinted red from previously crying and dried tear trails could be seen carving through the dirt on his cheeks. Despite all that, he looked extremely peaceful in his sleep, and it broke Lightning's heart to have to wake him up after having such a rough night, but she did so nonetheless.

"Hope?" she whispered, gently stroking his hair in an attempt to wake him calmly and slowly so that he could retain that peaceful feeling she could see that he currently had.

Sleeping teenagers were never known for being light sleepers, and Hope was no exception. She continued calling to him for a few brief moments until she noticed him beginning to shift in his position and he turned onto his back.

His eyes slowly fluttered open and he looked up at her through slanted lids, "…Light?" he mumbled drowsily.

"Sorry Hope, but it's time to get up," she stated firmly.

He looked disappointed, but responded quickly, "Okay."

He picked himself up into a sitting position on the floor so that Lightning would be free to move, and as soon as she was, she stood up and walked past the group to a small stream behind them.

Hope stood up and stretched as he wiped the sleep from his face and rubbed his eyes. He turned around and jumped upon sight of all of his friends standing there staring at him. "Gosh guys, trying to scare me to death?" he chuckled nervously; embarrassed that they were all watching him and he didn't even notice until now.

They laughed at his discomfort but didn't linger any longer as Fang continued badgering them to move on. Vanille, however, noticed Hope's sad face and the traces left behind that he had been crying and went up to him.

She placed her hands on each of his shoulders, getting his attention as she said, "Are you okay, Hope?"

He looked up at her with a sad expression, "Uh, Vanille? Do you remember when you told me to… face it later?"

Vanille nodded, urging him to go on.

He thought about it, but shrugged it off with a smile, "Nevermind, I'm okay."

Vanille didn't believe him and she gave him a look, but he continued smiling so she dismissed it for now, "Alright! Let's go then!"

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Snow, Sazh, and Lightning had taken off some time ago to scout ahead and search for any other human life, leaving Fang, Vanille, and Hope behind at their new base camp. Sazh had left the chocobo chick in Hope's care, 'in case he didn't return,' or some other pessimistic drabble of that sort. Some light conversation had started up between the trio, but nothing much until this point. Vanille was seated atop some ruins while Fang stood up beside her and Hope stood a few feet away, taking in his surroundings.

Vanille had a concentrated look on her face. Fang noticed this and asked, "Somethin' on your mind?" as she looked at her close companion.

The small redhead glanced at her friend, and then back up at the clouds as if she were looking at something. "I'm just wondering if Oerba has changed at all over all these years."

Fang took in her statement for a moment and then followed Vanille's gaze up at the sky, "Well, ya never know. Could have stayed the same," she said hopefully.

Hope turned around to face them with a perplexed expression, "Oerba?" he asked, unsure if it was a person, creature, place… he had no idea.

Vanille grinned widely, "Oerba is our home!" she chirped happily as she looked to Hope.

The young boy smiled in return, "Oh, you must be excited to see it again, huh?"

"Yeah!" Vanille beamed.

Hope smiled again with a slight chuckle, "What's it like?" he asked curiously.

The bouncy young girl inhaled, eager to answer Hope's question, but Fang cut her off before she could begin.

"It's a small village, not many people, but there are flowers as far as the eye could see," the brunette warrior stated, arms crossed over her chest as she looked out upon the wilderness of Pulse with every word she spoke.

Vanille grinned, "Yeah! It's so beautiful!" she squealed as she clasped her hands together.

Hope laughed at her excitement, "I can't wait to see it!"

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Not much more time passed by until Vanille fell asleep on the ruins she had been sitting on. Struck with boredom, Hope spotted some palm trees a little ways behind where Fang and Vanille were located and decided to go collect the coconuts from them. Fang watched him take off confusedly, but noticed him gathering food and welcomed his helping nature. He and the chocobo gathered a few up, bundled them up in his arms, and jogged back over to his comrades excitedly.

Fang watched him set down the provisions and spoke up quietly, so as to not wake Vanille who laid beside her, "Those are good."

Hope turned around to look at her as she talked.

"Most things are better on Pulse than Cocoon, y'know," she finished with a smirk.

Hope chuckled, "I'm beginning to notice."

Fang smiled crookedly at the young boy just before he told her that he was going to venture off to collect supplies for everyone. She warned him to be careful and he told her that he would. He took off quickly, taking the chocobo chick with him and leaving Fang to watch over her sleeping friend alone.

Hope travelled quite a distance by himself, dodging enemy encounters and sneaking past some of the bigger, scarier ones unnoticed. He finally came across a beautiful, open area with a waterfall.

"Woah…" he uttered quietly to himself in awe. The beauty was amazing; there was no place on Cocoon that looked like this. The grass seemed even more vibrant here than before, and the water was crystal clear. The waterfall was beautiful and it made such a soothing sound; Hope felt like he could stay here forever. He exhaled slowly in contentment upon the sights, smells, and sounds around him. However, the thoughts of this place's beauty made him oddly sad; he wished his mother was here to look upon it with him. His mother adored all things nature and she would have fallen in love with this place. The chocobo chick noticed Hope begin to tear up, and he rubbed up against his cheek comfortingly.

Hope smiled weakly, taking the chick in the palms of his hands as he said, "You were taken away from your parents, weren't you?"

The chocobo squealed a bit sadly in response as Hope wiped his nose with his forearm. Thoughts began running through his mind as the image of his mother falling to her death replayed over and over again. Then he saw the moment he was branded a l'Cie, and he thought of his 'borrowed time,' as Sazh and Snow often referred to it as. He was immediately overwhelmed. The chocobo noticed that the young boy was lost in unhappy thoughts, and it began jumping around in an attempt to snap him out of his trance. Hope looked at the small, yellow bird flailing in his hands and whispered, "I don't think I can do this anymore…"

It was at that moment that Hope collapsed to his knees at the bank of the stream in excruciating pain. He grasped his left wrist and screamed out in agony. The chick was startled at the boy's outburst and dropped to the ground himself.

"Lightning!" Hope called out in desperation, "Snow!"

But no one came.

Through his suffering he managed to glance down at his brand as it advanced another step, the chocobo chick noticed as well. Hope's pain didn't cease, and he simply let the rest of his body collapse onto the rocks and gravel beneath him. The little chocobo jumped and flapped in front of his face, trying to get him to get up, but Hope simply mumbled, "Get… the others…" The baby bird watched him close his eyes and he didn't waste a moment as he flew off immediately in the direction of their base camp.

Hope opened his eyes again momentarily, looking around him at the beautiful scenery. He winced slightly as he tried fighting against his drooping eyelids to stay awake and be strong, but he couldn't. His eyes slammed shut despite his protest, and he could feel consciousness slipping away from him. He thought he heard himself utter the word 'mom,' just before everything went black.

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Back at their encampment, Vanille was stirring in her sleep quite a lot as Fang watched over her. The young redhead began slowly sitting up, looking at her friend who was staring back at her.

"You were having a dream," Fang stated factually.

Vanille continued sitting up, registering her comrade's comment as she thought back on her dream, remembering it all suddenly as she nodded and said, "A pretty strange dream."

They both turned straight ahead, looking off into the distance at their homeland. It looked rather different from when they were last here, but not so much other than the ruins at every turn. They were drawn out of their thoughts as they heard footsteps and the moaning of Sazh approaching behind them.

"Heyyy," Sazh greeted with his arms in the air at the same time Vanille squealed, "You're back!" upon sight of Snow, Lightning, and Sazh returning.

"My feet are killin' me," the older man complained.

"Hey guys," Fang began as she looked back at them, "have any luck?"

Lightning stood with her hands on her hips, not looking pleased with their results as she responded, "No sign of anyone else. But we did find plenty of bloodthirsty wildlife and crumbling ruins."

As she said that, Sazh situated himself on their makeshift seat next to Vanille as the young girl asked him, "Long day?" and he responded with a sigh and a nod.

Snow stepped forward saying, "Well guys, we've run out of places to search around here." He stopped for a moment as he looked around and noticed that a certain young member of their group was nowhere to be found. "Where's Hope?" he asked, referring to Fang.

She gestured behind her, "He's off with the chocobo, getting supplies."

As if on cue, the chocobo chick came soaring into view beside them, squealing and squawking as it desperately tried to tell them about what had happened to Hope.

"Hello," Fang said, heavily accented.

Vanille giggled at the adorable little creature as Sazh said, "Hey," with a laugh. He held the chocobo in his hands as he asked, "You all by yourself?"

The chick flew from Sazh's palms and danced upon Vanille's head for a moment before it jumped down onto the seat in between Fang and Vanille. Fang stood up and the younger Pulsian native took the chick into her palms, trying desperately to understand what it is that the chocobo was trying to tell them.

Suddenly comprehending, she said urgently, "His brand!"

Everyone gasped in worry before Snow shouted, "We've gotta find him!"

They all instantly took off in the direction Fang told them that he had gone in. They ran as fast as they could, although they couldn't avoid all of the creatures that wanted to fight. It was easy for Hope to sneak by unnoticed when he was alone, but five adults running through small, enclosed areas did not allow them the same advantage. They fought quickly, easily dispatching some while others took a little more time.

'_Why would he go so far away?'_ Lightning wondered in her mind as they seemed to be going forward for quite some time.

After what felt like forever, they finally came across a clearing with a beautiful waterfall and stream. Lightning and Snow were the first to lay eyes on the unconscious form they were looking for.

"Hope!" Snow yelled as they all ran up to him.

Lightning and Snow knelt down on opposite sides of the small boy while Fang, Vanille, and Sazh stayed standing. Snow looked at his lifeless face and everything was still for a moment, until he pounded his fist to the ground and yelled, "Damn it!"

Lightning paid no attention to her soon-to-be-brother-in-law, and flipped Hope over so that he was on his back. She shook him frantically, afraid for the worst. "Hope!" she shouted, but it was no use.

Fang quickly knelt down and grasped up his left hand, pulling back the scarf the adorned his wrist. Everyone knew what she was doing and they all looked at her, eagerly awaiting what she had to say.

The young combatant laid Hope's arm back down at his side and she stood up as she said, "His brand's advanced, but not to the point of a Cie'th yet." They all sighed in relief that he hadn't advanced _too_ far, but they were still worried that he had advanced at all.

Lightning felt for a pulse on her young friend, quickly saying, "He's still alive."

Snow snapped out of his angry stupor and stated, "We need to get him somewhere safe, the day's almost over," as he slid his muscular arms underneath Hope's small frame and lifted him up to carry him.

||0||

The journey back to the camp was rough. Having to avoid battles with all of them was impossible, and being in the midst of a battle while holding onto Hope's motionless form proved to be very difficult. Nevertheless, they made it back just before the sunset. Snow laid Hope down on one of the semi-soft, gray pieces of rubble that Fang and Vanille had been sitting on earlier in the day. Many hours passed and it was now well into the night, but they had still not seen any movement from Hope. Vanille hovered over the boy's lifeless form, watching and waiting for his eyes to open. Lightning leaned up against some of the taller ruins in the area with her arms folded over her chest; although she appeared tough and stern on the outside, on the inside she was wrought with worry over Hope. Fang sat beside the fire on some more of the ruins while Sazh sat on the ground not far from her. Snow was also seated on the ground, anger welling up inside of him after every second that passed. They all seemed to have given up by now, as their attitudes had drastically fallen.

In Hope's unconscious state, unhappy thoughts and dreams plagued his mind. He was unaware of everything around him, but somehow he couldn't stop the bad feelings from entering his thoughts. He was telling himself that he was deadweight to the group, and that they shouldn't have to waste time worrying about him every second. He had a flashback of when Lightning had told him that he was a liability back in the Vile Peaks and it felt like a wrench in his heart all over again.

Suddenly there was yelling, probably from Snow, and then reasoning from Sazh. Hope could feel consciousness slowly draining back into his weary body. His hearing was coming back to him in waves, and he was aware of dull aching throughout his body. As he slowly became more and more aware, he then heard Vanille suggesting another place to go, and Fang asking if she was sure. As Lightning spoke quietly in the background, Hope felt his voice come back to him, and decided to use it.

"Oerba," he uttered, drawing everyone's attention back to him, "The place it all began."

Snow and Vanille came over to him, the young girl hovering above him as she had been doing previously.

He squinted and fluttered his eyes open as he continued, "The place where the Pulse fal'Cie lay dreaming." He looked up at the sky as he raised his left hand to look at his brand, "Vanille and Fang's home. Just maybe… it'll be the place where we find the answers we're looking for."

He lowered his arm back down and heard Fang say, "Yeah right, _if_ we can get there."

Hope mustered a smile and said, "Go ahead without me," and he struggled to sit up.

Vanille helped him get into a sitting position as she pleaded, "We can't just leave you!"

He dismissed her words saying, "I'll be fine."

He shrugged her off gently, trying to stand on his own as he said, "You've all taught me so much… showed me how to fight."

Hope struggled to stay standing upon his own two feet and as he tried to take a step, pain shot through him instantly and if it weren't for Snow, he would have fallen to the ground. The tall blonde caught him as he stumbled and said, "What'd I tell you? Leave the fighting to me," as he held onto him for another moment, making sure he was stable.

Hope looked down, ashamed that he had to be saved again. He closed his eyes and admitted his feelings, "I'm scared."

Lightning came up in front of him and placed her right hand on his left shoulder, "We understand. You're _not_ gonna go through this ordeal alone ya know," she stated as she picked his chin up with her hand and gave him a warm, genuine smile.

Hope looked back down as he said, "That's what scares me… I don't – I don't wanna see you get hurt because of me." He covered his face with his hand in sadness as he cried out, "It would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind."

Hope's eyes shot open at a sudden sensation in his wrist followed by a blinding light, causing his friends to back away covering their eyes. He hunched over, grasping his wrist in an attempt to cease the pain. He screamed out something awful in agony as he looked up at the source of another bright light. The young boy watched as a giant metal creature fell from the beams of illumination and collided harshly with the ground. He looked up at its massive form nervously as Sazh, Vanille, and Snow were thrown onto the ground while Fang and Lightning landed stably behind him from the blow.

The two female fighters ran up in front of Hope with their weapons at the ready as if to guard him from the beast as Fang shouted, "Mention ordeals, and look what comes along!"

"This is _not_ an ordeal, this is a gift. Hope," Lightning began, glancing at him quickly and then gesturing towards the Eidolon, "_This_ is the kind of power you've got inside, and it's telling you _not_ to give up! Trust me."

Hope looked confused for a moment.

"Oh I get it," Fang spoke up as she prepared her weapon, "It's here to show you the way," she looked back at Hope briefly and then turned back around, "Show you that you've got what it takes to get back on your feet and do this thing!"

Hope took a minute to register what they had said, and he uttered, "You mean… that came from me?" as he looked up into the face of the giant creature.

Feeling a rush of strength and self-confidence, he charged forward with his boomerang at the ready. He vaguely heard Lightning ask Fang if she was ready, and the battle commenced. It took quite some time as Alexander was very powerful, but, of course, they succeeded. Upon obtaining his Eidolon, Hope felt much better about himself miraculously. He thought it was odd how suddenly it happened, but he did feel much better.

He stood quietly after the fight examining his brand until Sazh spoke up, "That was some beast you tamed, I'll tell ya that."

Hope nodded, "Yeah… I always thought the Eidolons appear to set us free through death… But now, I think maybe they're here to snap us out of our slumps," he finished as he looked at each of his comrades in turn.

Snow walked up to him and put a hand on his back, "Oh, like the one you were just in?"

Hope laughed slightly and looked down as he said, "I'll ask for help earlier next time around."

He was suddenly ambushed with a hug from Vanille as she stated, "I told you… on Gran Pulse, we're all family," she let go and backed up so that she could look at him as she spoke, "You can moan all you like, but you're stuck with us."

Sazh chuckled as he raised a finger and wagged it, "You're never alone in hell!"

Fang didn't take to that statement too well. She walked up to him and got in his face as she demanded, "Listen funnyman, don't call this place hell, alright?"

Vanille smiled and giggled silently to herself at the display before Lightning spoke up, "So, we're all decided then?" and a universal affirmative swept across the group in turn.

The girls couldn't help but laugh as Snow and Sazh incessantly teased Hope. Snow went on about how he had been moaning about being the weakest link and yet he received one of the strongest Eidolons while Sazh went on to do the same for a moment but then he put his arm around him and gave him a few encouraging words. It was then that Hope said something pessimistic and they both shoved him practically in unison. Hope laughed and said that he took it back and that he was only joking, giving Snow a shove in return. This lasted for quite some time until Fang noticed ominous clouds circling overhead.

"Guys, I think it's gonna rain again tonight," she stated as everyone seemed to moan universally.

They had travelled quite a distance from their previous campsite and they were stuck here with no overhead coverage. Fang's prediction came to fruition as the group began getting sprinkled on. Sazh groaned loudly in aggravation as Vanille whined unhappily with her arms over her head in an attempt to keep dry, which failed.

"What do we do?" Vanille asked frustratingly.

Lightning and Snow began looking around as Fang spoke up, "All we _can_ do is cover up with some of this rubble and go to sleep. Unless you wanna go trekking through the wilderness in the rain and dark to look for shelter."

There was silence; obviously no one wanted to do that.

Snow sighed, "Alright, everyone get under something," he ordered as everyone did just that.

Sazh and Vanille crawled underneath some of the wreckage that was hallowed out into somewhat of a cave. Lightning found an area with very minimal tree coverage and sat there in the grass. Snow lifted one of the gray pieces that Hope was laid upon earlier and got underneath it, using it as a make-shift blanket of sorts. Hope found a small pile of rubble that had one piece that stuck out like a small roof, and he shrunk down to fit underneath it. They took to their same order of watches as the night before, so Fang had yet to lay down as her guard was first.

The watches went by slowly and by the time Lightning's had come, she hadn't fallen asleep at all again. From her post she watched over Hope protectively. The spot in which he was laying provided hardly any coverage, and in the back of her mind she worried for him. She noticed him shivering violently and she could see that his lips were turning a shade of blue. Doing the only thing she could think of, she removed her red cape from her back and laid it on top of the restless boy. She knew it wouldn't do much because it was very small, but she figured that even the tiniest thing would help. His shivering didn't really cease or calm down at all, so she decided to sit behind him and block some of the rain from pelting his cold body, and also her body being there would provide more warmth. She did so quietly, so as to not awaken the boy. He must have been very worn out from the fight with his Eidolon and his passing out from earlier – no wonder he had no trouble falling asleep, she thought.

Lightning positioned herself where she could block some of the rain from the young boy's shivering frame and got comfortable facing in a direction where she could still stand guard and attack if anything were to approach. She noticed him sigh contently in his sleep and she whispered, "Sleep well, Hope."

||0||

_Promise me one day that peace shall reign._

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	3. Snow and Steam

**Struggle Lies Wi****thin**

_B__y: Selphie Kinneas 175_

Chapter 3: Snow and Steam

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_Will we live to greet the dawn?_

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No sleep came to Lightning at all that night. _Before_ her watch her _mind_ was too busy; _on_ her watch her _body_ was too busy. She was busy with keeping Hope dry from the storm in the dark hours of the early morning.

It was quite an awkward position, and she was sure that her body would be angry at her later on for holding it for so many hours, but she didn't care. She could tell that Hope was freezing, even after she laid her small cape on top of him and even as she acted as a somewhat of a poor roof over him, he still shivered violently.

Her gaze was taken from watching Hope as she noticed light beginning to flood the surrounding area. She looked up and sighed in awe as the sun began rising over the horizon. This was her second time seeing the beauty of the sunrise on what was always referred to as hell, but she guessed that she was never going to get used to its grandeur no matter how many times she looked upon it.

With the presence of the bright sun, the rain clouds began withering away, and the downpour slowly turned into a light drizzle.

Lightning looked back down at the sleeping form of Hope just before standing up and walking over to a nearby stream. Upon standing after working her way slowly out of her previous position so as to not awaken the sleeping boy, she glanced over at each of her comrades in turn; most of them had hardly moved an inch since she last looked.

She sauntered over to the small body of water, grabbed some of the clear liquid into the palms of her hands, and splashed her face with it abruptly in order to wake herself up considering she had not slept at all and her exhaustion was beginning to catch up with her.

"Mornin'," a heavily accented voice startled her slightly from behind. Lightning glanced behind her quickly, and after taking a split second to register who it was in her mind, she sighed and finished what she was doing. Fang always was one of the first ones to wake up, after Lightning, of course. Typically after that it was Sazh, then Snow, and then either Vanille or Hope would be woken up last.

"Morning," Lightning responded as she continued washing up.

"Sleep well?" Fang asked.

Lightning stood up from the stream and ran her hands down her face one more time before turning around and answering, "If by 'well' you mean 'not at all,' then yes."

It was at that moment that she saw Snow bounding towards them from behind Fang with a smirk on his smug features, "Too worried about Hope to sleep?" he asked teasingly.

Lightning scoffed, two could play at that game, "Yeah, maybe you should try worrying about someone else's well-being sometime," she spat back. She knew that he cared deeply for her sister; she just loved how much the comment would bother him.

With that statement hanging in the air, Lightning walked past her two comrades and when Snow could no longer see her face, a devilish grin swept across her features.

"Woah, woah, woah, now!" She could hear Snow yelling back to her from behind, but she simply chuckled silently to herself and continued walking past their campsite where she could be alone for a moment.

Just after that was when Sazh and Vanille starting waking up with yawns and moans. Fang and Snow turned around to look at the sleepy members of their group at the sound.

Vanille sighed contently as she stretched her arms out above her. When she noticed all of her already awoken cohorts, she squealed, "Good morning!"

Fang smiled at her younger companion while Snow did the same and responded, "Morning!"

Sazh was still coming to until Vanille smacked him harshly on the back, "Sleep well, pops?"

The older man responded with a grumble and Vanille giggled in return. She looked around the campsite and noticed that Lightning was quite a ways away from the group at the edge of a deep valley, and she also noticed that Hope was still sleeping. The young redhead bounded over to her sleeping friend and bent over to look down at him. He was still shivering slightly as she nudged him in the shoulder abruptly and shouted, "Wake up sleepyhead!"

Hope jumped in fright at the sudden disturbance and looked up at the girl above him who gave him a quick giggle and skipped off in the direction of Lightning.

As the young boy fully woke up, he noticed that he wasn't feeling well at all. His head was pounding and his stomach felt as if it was in knots. As he watched the young girl spring off, he also realized that his vision was extremely hazy.

Hope sat silently for a few moments, trying to gain his bearings. Snow noticed that his young comrade was not doing well and started to head up to him. It was as if Hope hadn't even realized that the tall blonde was in front of him, for he gave the man no acknowledgment of his presence.

Snow bent down to his level and waved a hand in front of the boy's face as he said, "Hey, you okay?"

Hope shook his head violently in an attempt to clear his vision and looked up at the martial artist, blinking a few times, "Y-yeah, I'm fine," he lied.

Snow never was very good at reading people, nor was he good at telling when people were lying. So when Hope told him that he was fine, he shrugged it off, believing him fully.

The oblivious young man gave Hope a wide grin and a goofy thumbs up as he said, "Alright!"

As the tall fighter began walking away from him, Hope began trying to get to his feet after a few more minutes of stillness. Upon standing, he wavered drastically as his world began spinning. He hadn't noticed Lightning approach him, but she arrived at the perfect time. As the young boy nearly stumbled to the ground, Lightning firmly grasped his outstretched arm and stabilized him.

After giving him a moment to regain his composure, she asked sternly, "Are you alright?"

He looked up at her, his vision slightly becoming less fuzzy, but still not completely clear yet, and responded, "Yeah, I'm still just, uh… a little tired, that's all."

Lightning's eyes stayed locked on his; she didn't believe his answer. She could sense that he was lying to her, not only because of the manner of his response, but also by his behavior as she remained staring at him. His eyes shifted back and forth, never retaining their gaze at her for longer than a few seconds, and she noticed him fiddling with the scarf on his wrist nervously out of the corner of her eye.

However, she did not have time to pry the truth out of him, as the sound of Fang's accented shouting was suddenly heard from a little ahead of them saying that they needed to head out.

Lightning let go of Hope's arm as she said, "Don't lie to me, Hope," and she walked away hastily, not leaving him any time to respond.

Hope sighed, he didn't _want_ to lie to any of his friends, he just didn't want them to think of him as a weakling, or someone that held them back. He figured that he merely had a simple cold or something of that nature, that he would get over it rather quickly and that it was nothing to worry the others with.

After taking a moment to clear his head, he followed slowly behind his companions. As they travelled through the wilderness, Hope made his way to the front of the group, trying to prove to them - and himself - that he _could_ keep up.

They finally came to a vast, open clearing. The Cocoon natives couldn't help but gape at the sight. Vanille and Fang explained that they had just entered the Archylte Steppe. Hope ran out ahead of the others into the open field, his jaw dropping at the view before him.

Monsters of all shapes and sizes could be seen running throughout the grassy plains. There were small, innocent creatures, all the way up to creatures the size of massive buildings. Hope felt a twinge of fear as he noticed some of the large, intimidating monsters, but he sucked it up. Grass could be seen in every direction and the sky was a brilliant blue, although it was littered with flying monsters as well.

The two Pulsian natives gave a bit of a background story to this massive plain, but there wasn't much to say. That is, until they came across a Cie'th stone. Vanille explained how previous l'Cie that could not complete their focus turned into Cie'th, and from there, after losing the will to go on, turned to stone. Hearing those words frightened Hope even more, but he didn't say a thing.

The group was at a standstill for quite some time, simply taking in the massive scale of the world around them. Everything was so foreign to those in the group from the planet that hung in the sky. The grass was greener, the sky was bluer, the foliage was strange yet beautiful, the wildlife was alien yet terrifying, and the whole place was devoid of human life – something that really threw the Cocoon natives off. They had never witnessed a place so untamed, or creatures and plants so thriving.

"Well," Lightning spoke up, "Let's get moving," she stated as she turned and looked at her fellow l'Cie, receiving nods of affirmation in return.

As they started trekking forward, they began to realize that it would be impossible to get through without a few battles. Either they would accidentally run into a gorgonopsid race, they would be chased down by a bored behemoth, or a flying creature would swoop down and catch them off guard.

At this point, they had only encountered three battles, but Hope was starting to break down. Luckily, these first few fights had been six to one or six to two, letting Hope slide by without requiring him to do too much. However, the next battle that they were about to run into, he wouldn't be so lucky.

Hope staggered behind the group languidly, trying to make sure that his – what he thought to be – slight illness went unnoticed by the group. He looked up at the forms of his friends in front of him, and his vision was so clouded that he could hardly distinguish Vanille from Snow. It seemed to him that their pace was quickening, when really, he was slowing down drastically. He was having an extremely difficult time keeping up; it was very hard for him to breathe. He stopped dead in his tracks for a moment, trying to catch his breath. With a slow, deep inhalation, a sharp pain immediately shot throughout his chest. Hope let out a quick, loud grunt, grasping his chest as he bent over and his free hand fell to his knee.

Vanille, being the next farthest behind amongst them, heard Hope's cry and darted around. She gasped and pointed in the boy's direction, "Look!" she shouted.

The group turned around slowly at the young girl's demand, and upon seeing that something was wrong with their youngest companion, they sprinted up to him.

"Hope!" Snow called out as he ran up to the hunched over form, "What's wrong?" he asked, bending down to his level and placing an arm on his shoulder.

Hope winced and straightened up slowly, "Nothing," he lied as he looked around at his friends. Acknowledging their worried expressions, he said, "Sorry to worry you guys," he forced a smirk, "But I'm okay."

He caught a lecturing look from Lightning, but stood by his answer.

"Are you sure?" Vanille stepped into his line of vision.

Hope thought for a moment, "Y-yeah. I'm just a little tired, that's all. Really guys."

No one seemed to completely believe the young boy, but they dropped it nonetheless.

"Well, you heard him. Let's get goin'," Fang spoke up as she continued on in the direction they were previously headed, Sazh following suit.

Vanille gave Hope a quick, unexpected hug and followed after Fang as well. Snow patted him harshly on the back, making the small blonde cough, and he, too, continued onward. Lightning remained in front of him for a moment, looking him over, waiting to see if he would give her the proper answer. After getting nothing from him, she sighed and said, "Come on."

||0||

After about an hour of travelling across the open, grassy field, the group came to a battle in which they could not avoid. As the six comrades made their way through the Steppe, four gorgonopsids and a behemoth king made it their mission to stop the l'Cie in their path.

"Guys, split up! We'll take them in teams!" Lightning shouted, taking the lead as she usually did. Fang, Hope, and Vanille took on the four gorgonopsids, while Snow, Sazh, and Lightning concentrated on the angry behemoth king.

Things started off rather smoothly. Lightning, Snow, and Sazh whaled on the massive beast while Fang attacked the crazed canines ruthlessly, Vanille cast offensive magic, and Hope stood back curing as best as he could whenever he was needed.

After a short time, one of the gorgonopsids was dispatched. However, the monsters started getting smart. They began to notice that they weren't getting anywhere so long as Hope continued curing their enemies. With this newfound knowledge, the three smaller beasts began ganging up on the already weakened young boy. One gave him a deep scratch in his arm, another kept Fang busy, and the last ran up and gave him a swift hit to the chest.

Immediate pain ripped throughout his already weakened body as he dropped his boomerang and let out a blood curdling scream. He clutched his chest and fell to his knees.

Vanille gasped at the sight and sound emitted from the small boy while everyone else gave him a quick glance to make sure he was okay.

"On your toes, Hope!" Fang yelled as she terminated a second gorgonopsid.

"You alright, kiddo?" Snow shouted in between punches and kicks.

Hope gasped and grimaced, and after mustering up the strength to yell, he did so, "I'm fine!"

Lightning looked back at him whenever she got the chance, and she noticed him trying to get back up and fight, "Don't overdo it, Hope! Stay down!" she ordered.

"Yeah! We've got it covered!" Vanille squealed in reassurance.

They might have thought that those words would be comforting to the boy in his weak state, but they only made him want to get up even more. He didn't want his friends to think of him as the weakling that they had to pick up the slack for. He didn't want them to have to wait for him, protect him, and put themselves in danger for him. He wanted so bad to be able to hold his own amongst his companions, and even though _they_ knew that he could, he had to prove it to _himself_.

He still tried to get onto his feet and continue fighting, but he simply could not do it. His head felt like it was being beaten against a wall, he felt nauseous, with every breath he took his chest ached worse and worse, and he was coughing incessantly.

After finally finishing off the last of the evil canines, everyone focused their attacks on the now-standing-upright behemoth king. Vanille took over the curing since Hope was unable to do so.

Being totally unaware of his surroundings, Hope hadn't noticed that a massive adamantortoise was headed straight in his direction. The others didn't notice either, as they were busy trying to dispatch of the behemoth king.

After one final failed attempt at standing on his feet, Hope collapsed all the way to the grassy terrain. He laid on his right side, a hand clutched to his chest with his back to the slow approaching brute. He knew now that he _definitely_ had something far worse than a common cold.

Everyone gave a universal sigh of relief upon the defeat of the behemoth king as they sheathed their weapons.

"Woo! That was a doozy," Fang exhaled excitedly; she always enjoyed a good battle, no matter the difficulty.

Snow smiled at the triumph and turned around to share it with Hope, "Hey buddy, you o-," but stopped abruptly as he took in the sight before him.

"HOPE!" the tall blonde screamed at the top of his lungs as he exercised the true meaning of the word _haste_.

When the rest of the group spun around they could hardly comprehend what they were witnessing. Hope was collapsed on the ground and a gigantic adamantortoise was just about to trample him. Lightning gasped and started running after Snow, but Fang outstretched her arm and halted her, not wanting to have an extra casualty in case Snow's rescue went horribly wrong.

"Snow!" Vanille yelled as she feared for both of the young males' lives, covering her mouth with her hands.

With his currently dulled senses, Hope hardly realized what was happening until right as it happened. He turned slightly onto his back after vaguely hearing his name shouted, and what he saw before him made him think that his life was over. Right before his eyes was the humongous foot of an even more humongous beast. He screamed and put his arms over his face in defense. Just as the colossal foot of the fiend was about to squish the young boy, Snow dove in, grabbed his small frame, and rolled the two of them out of harm's way without a millisecond to spare. Snow released his grip on Hope and laid next to him silently for a moment, trying to catch his breath as the oblivious creature stomped away, totally unaware of the miniscule beings at his feet that he almost murdered.

Lightning darted over to them as quickly as she could and knelt down at Hope's side.

Snapping out of his momentary stupor, Snow sprang up into a sitting position next to the motionless boy as he yelled, "Hope!"

The others had joined them by this point, kneeling in close to make sure that their youngest companion was alright.

"Are you okay?" Snow asked worriedly as Hope had still not been responsive in any way yet, and he shook his small shoulders abruptly.

Hope began fluttering his eyes at the sound of Snow's voice, and he looked up at him, "You saved me… again… Thank you," he whispered, eyes half-lidded.

Snow nodded proudly, "That's what heroes do."

Lightning scoffed at his arrogant response and focused back on Hope, "Are you hurt?" she asked sincerely, placing a hand on his quivering shoulder.

She noticed him shivering violently as he quietly responded, "I'm okay."

He began slowly trying to sit up. Snow supported his back and said, "Woah, take it easy."

Finally coming to the conclusion that he had come down with something terrible and possibly life threatening, Hope decided that it was no longer the best idea to keep it from his friends, "I feel… weak… and tired."

With that confession, he coughed harshly, leaving crimson tinted sputum on the blades of grass in front of him. He grasped his chest yet again, as a burning pain seared throughout his upper body with every cough emitted and every breath drawn. Feeling an intense rush of weakness, he began unknowingly falling back down to the earth. Luckily, Snow had not moved his hand far from when he was previously supporting Hope, and he reacted quickly enough to catch the boy's upper half before it collided with the ground.

Vanille gasped at what she saw before her, stained on the grass, while Sazh sighed and looked away momentarily. Fang didn't look away though; she was concentrating on what could be plaguing the youth.

Snow laid Hope down gently after bracing his fall as he asked, "You alright?"

Lightning rolled her eyes at his inquiry, "Obviously he's not, Snow."

They all remained quiet for a moment, watching the sick boy. He shivered constantly, as if he was cold, and the temperature outside was most certainly _not _cold. When examining him closely, one could tell that he was having difficulty breathing, for his breaths were quick and rapid. It was obvious that he had severe chest pain; they noticed how often he had kept a hand clutched to his upper body.

Lightning spoke up, realizing that they were doing no good sitting in the middle of a battlefield, "We need to get him somewhere safe," she demanded.

Snow responded immediately and prepared to carry Hope to safety, but he raised a hand and stopped him, saying weakly, "I can do it."

A few of them mumbled in disapproval, but Snow understood him not wanting to feel weak or inferior. However, Lightning did not agree.

"No, Hope, you are obviously in bad condition and you don't need to go worsening it," she said sternly.

He shook his head slowly in protest, and repeated, "I can do it."

Lightning sighed and shook her head, "Fine, but not without help."

Hope gave her a weak smile as he got up into a seated position. From there, he got to his feet slowly with the help of Snow, who periodically said, "Easy there, kiddo."

Once he was firmly on his feet without anyone helping him, he closed his eyes and tried to take in a deep breath. However, doing so triggered more pain in his chest. Hope winced and groaned from the agony, slamming his eyes tightly shut. The ache prompted another painful cough; he covered his mouth with his forearm, leaving behind speckles of blood tinged phlegm as he did so.

The immense pain caused Hope to black out. He began falling backwards, resulting in a loud gasp from everyone in the group. Fortunately, Snow expected this and was already in place. He merely braced himself and outstretched his arms, catching him before he could hit the ground. The tall l'Cie situated his hold on him properly just before lifting Hope's frail body up into his arms.

Snow looked him over, "He's out like a light," he stated solemnly.

Lightning sighed, "Let's get him somewhere safe _now_."

||0||

The gang of l'Cie were lucky enough to find a small plateau that was far away from any sort of crazed wildlife. It was small and grassy, and completely clear with no trees or shrubs whatsoever. As Snow gently placed the unconscious boy on the ground, he began coming to.

"Hey there," the tall, muscular blonde greeted as he laid Hope down on the grass, noticing that his eyes were slightly open, "How are you feelin'?"

Vanille and Snow knelt down beside the sick youth, while Lightning, Fang, and Sazh looked on.

Hope blinked a few times slowly, trying to focus his vision on his friends in front of him as he thought of what the best answer would be.

He groaned and cleared his throat, "Sick," he replied.

Vanille thought for a moment; she was sure that she had seen some of these signs before. As if they could read each other's minds, Fang and Vanille turned and looked at one another suddenly.

Noticing their sudden 'light bulb' moment, Sazh asked, "What?"

"Fang and I saw this same thing! In Oerba!" Vanille squealed excitedly.

"Yes," Fang spoke up, all the memories flooding back in waves, "It's an awful sickness. It spread through Oerba like wildfire, all those years ago," she explained, looking off into the distance.

Lightning turned to face her, "Well, what is it?"

Fang returned her gaze, and then looked down to the boy on the floor wordlessly. She knelt down at his side, right next to Vanille, and she began looking him over. She was pretty sure what was wrong with him, but she just wanted to be positive.

It was a hot day on Pulse, and yet, Hope was shivering as if it were below zero. His lips were a pale shade of blue and his teeth chattered relentlessly. It was obvious to everyone that he was having trouble breathing. Each inhale was cut short and was extremely shallow, as if his lungs were incapable of taking in oxygen to its full extent. The young brunette warrior placed two fingers on the underside of his wrist, feeling for his pulse which was overly fast-paced. After that, Fang placed the top side of her hand on Hope's forehead, which was exceptionally hot, despite his purpling lips. His eyes were opened just slightly, and he kept his gaze on the Pulsian as she examined him. At the last, it was also noted that the adolescent had three deep scratches down his right arm from when the gorgonopsids attacked him.

Fang sighed quietly and looked back into Hope's eyes, "So, how ya feelin' kid?"

Hope closed his eyes for a moment and simply stated, "Bad."

"I can see that, what's eatin' you?" the young woman huffed.

The small, blonde boy looked confused at her choice of words, "Um… nothing…?"

Vanille giggled at their miscommunication, "She's asking what hurts."

"Oh," Hope sighed, his cheeks being slightly flushed with embarrassment. "My chest hurts," he replied.

"Mhm," Fang nodded and rose to her feet, "It's just what Vanille and I expected."

The group looked to her worriedly, awaiting what she had to say.

"Looks like the kid's got pneumonia," she stated plainly.

The reaction she got was not the one she was expecting. Instead of sighs of worry, she got looks of confusion.

"Pneumonia?" Snow asked in bewilderment.

Fang furrowed her brow before she looked to Vanille, who was as equally perplexed by their friends' response as she was, "Yeah, don't you know of it?"

"No," Sazh spoke up. He was silent for a moment, trying to recall if he had ever come across such a disease, but turned up negative, "Never heard of such a thing."

Fang scoffed and placed a hand on her hip, "Tch, figures. It probably doesn't exist in your _perfect_ world."

It was true, most sicknesses and diseases were unheard of on Cocoon. On the floating shell, only the very most general illnesses were heard of, such as the common cold, but not much more than that was ever recorded in history. The fal'Cie made Cocoon to be a utopian paradise, and therefore, such ailments were nonexistent.

Lightning shrugged off her words, more concerned with Hope's wellbeing than the origin of this so called 'pneumonia.' "So, how did _he_ get it?" the salmon haired female asked.

"Well," the heavily accented voice of Fang spoke up, "Could be from the rain or simply from breathing in another world's air."

Snow looked puzzled, "Then why haven't any of us come down with anything?"

"He's a _kid_, he's more vulnerable," she stated simply without another word.

There was silence for a moment; the only thing that was heard was Hope's struggle for air and his frequent coughing. Most times, breathing in foreign bacteria and other things of the sort were the cause of pneumonia. However, in Hope's case, he had already caught a cold from being stuck in the rain two nights in a row, and then the battle for his Eidolon put him in a slightly weaker condition as well. These things left the young boy's body prone to illness. On top of that, Pulse had alien microorganisms in the air that his immune system simply was not used to and could not fight off. All of these rolled into one were the cause of Hope's pneumonia.

"How is it cured?" Lightning broke the silence.

Fang and Vanille exchanged somber glances, and this time, the redhead decided to speak up. "A lot of people in our village caught pneumonia, and they were very sick for a long time," the young girl explained, "The village medicine man taught some of us that didn't catch it how to cure the sick people, and we did everything we could…" she stopped; she couldn't continue.

Fang picked up where she left off, "Most of them didn't make it."

Vanille looked to the ground in remembrance of her friends, lifting her index and her little finger to pray as she normally did.

Sazh let out a defeated sigh while Snow moaned in frustration.

"So that's it?" the tall, muscular blonde shouted in anger as he got to his feet.

"Hey now, calm down. You're too quick to jump to conclusions," Fang reasoned.

Vanille stepped forward and looked into Snow's eyes comfortingly as she placed her hands on his forearms, "We know lots of remedies, I'm sure we can get Hope better in no time!" she chirped optimistically.

"She's right," the dark haired Pulsian spoke up, "We can go gather some things to make him well, it's just up to him to be strong enough to pull through it."

"He is," Lightning defended as she knelt down at Hope's side.

Fang was silent for a moment, hoping that Lightning was right. "Well, I'm off then," she stated as she turned on her heel and took off, Vanille following close behind.

"I'll come help!" Sazh shouted to the two young women as he chased after them.

Snow sighed as half of the group left. He got down on the floor beside Hope, opposite of Lightning.

"Well Hope, it's just me, you, and Light now," he said as he looked down at the weary boy.

Hope opened his eyes and looked around slightly, noticing that only Snow and Lightning were above him, "Where did everyone go?" he asked softly. In his sickly state, he hadn't heard a majority of the conversation the l'Cie were just having, if he heard any at all.

"They left to find some things to make you better," the older male replied reassuringly.

Hope coughed and grumbled.

"Hope," Lightning began as the ill youth opened his eyes slightly, "You lied to me."

The silverish-blonde haired boy dropped his gaze from Lightning's, feeling faintly disappointed in himself.

"I'm sorry, Light, I just didn't think anything of it," he responded quietly, with slight rasping in his voice, "When I woke up this morning," he coughed, "I wasn't feeling _this_ terrible. I thought I just had a cold or something and I didn't want to bother anyone with it," he explained.

Lightning sighed and Snow wiped his face with his hands in shame; he felt like an idiot. He had asked the boy earlier in the day if he was okay, and when he had told him nothing was wrong, he completely believed it. He was ashamed of himself.

"Don't do this again, Hope," Lightning retorted, "If you had told us earlier that you weren't feeling well, maybe Fang and Vanille could have helped you before it got to this point."

Hope sighed and coughed, "I know… I'm sorry, Light."

Snow grunted as he lifted his head to look back at the boy, "No, _I'm_ sorry Hope. I should have known this morning that something was up, but when you shrugged it off, I did the same thing. Damn, I never learn, do I kiddo?"

Hope pained a chuckle.

"Hope, I promise, I'm going to do everything in my power to get you well. I swear to that," Snow pledged.

Lightning looked to her 'brother' in slight shock at his words. His devotion to protect Hope always startled her somewhat, but it genuinely touched her heart at the same time.

Silence befell the trio for a few moments, Snow and Lightning simply looking after their young companion, ensuring that he was doing well.

Something had been on Hope's mind, and he decided to relay it, "I'm sorry to always have to slow you guys down."

Snow and Lightning exchanged glances before Snow spat, "Don't be ridiculous," as he ruffled the boy's hair, resulting in both of the guys' laughter.

"Don't think like that, Hope. You aren't slowing us down, and even if you were, it wouldn't matter. You have to understand that you mean a lot to all of us, and we'll do anything to make sure that you're okay," Lightning stated soothingly. "You've always kept up with everyone just fine. You have to remember, Hope, you still are very young, and sometimes you demand too much of yourself. It's perfectly alright if you need a break now and again, we understand, and we aren't going to be put out by it. You aren't a liability, I'm sorry that I _ever_ said that to you, but you are much more than that. You are part of this _family_, as Vanille and Fang like to call it," she said with a smirk, "You _belong_ with us, Hope."

There was no way that Hope could ever justify how much those words meant to him, but there was at least one way to let her know that he appreciated it. He smiled and said, "Thank you, Light," and he drifted slowly out of consciousness.

Snow shook him slightly as he yelled, "Hope!"

With no response, he stood up abruptly and shouted, "Damn it! We've come this far and look what happens! He's made it this long and now he _dies_ on us!"

"Snow! Calm down!" Lightning barked as she lifted Hope's wrist and felt for a pulse, "He's fine Snow, he just passed out is all. He's alright."

Snow sighed in relief as he ran his hands through his hair, "Sorry Light, I just had to let off some steam. But he's okay?"

"Yes, he's alright. His pulse is still very strong, but it's quickened. And he is still visibly breathing, but it looks like he's still having difficulty," she replied diagnostically.

The tall male groaned as he slowly paced back and forth for quite some time.

"Snow, it's alright, really," Lightning repeated, trying to calm him.

She began to notice that Hope was still shivering violently, and his lips had not returned from their bluish shade.

"He's freezing," she mumbled nearly inaudibly to herself, but Snow overheard her. She began taking off her small red cape but her male comrade stopped her.

"It's too small," he motioned for her to put it back on as he took off his trench coat. He placed the heavy, white coat on top of the quivering boy, and he calmed down significantly.

"There," he muttered.

||0||

Several hours passed by with Hope slipping in and out of consciousness, each time resulting in an overreacting Snow and a worried Lightning. However, Sazh, Vanille, and Fang finally returned with some remedies that they remembered from hundreds of years ago when they lived in Oerba.

As soon as the motionless form of Hope came into her vision, Vanille dashed over to him and got down by his side.

Fang came up rapidly behind her and asked to no one in particular, "How's he been?"

Snow sighed, "He's been coming and going."

"Mm," Fang murmured as she began trying to wake him. "Hope," she stated loudly as she shook his face a bit harshly. After a few tries, he finally came to.

Vanille smiled a giant, goofy grin upon seeing his open eyes and squealed, "Hi!"

Hope chuckled ever so slightly and smiled back in her direction.

Sazh came up and emptied his pockets of all its contents, which was everything that they had gathered in the past hours. Fang got to work immediately. Vanille helped her make medicinal herbs and seeds into tonics to have the sickly boy drink. They then proceeded to take some sap that they received from some of the Pulsian foliage and transform it into an oil, which was used to rub onto Hope's chest, soothing his pain in that region. After quite some time, they were done, and Hope quickly fell asleep as night began to fall.

"Poor kid," Fang stated sympathetically as she began storing the leftovers of their creations to be used again the next day. She gathered them all up and handed them to Vanille who would keep them in a pack on her hips.

Sazh nodded in agreement just before he mumbled, "Time for this old body to get some sleep, too."

Snow chuckled noiselessly at the eldest member of their group as he went a few feet away from the crowd and proceeded to lie down on the dirt.

After finishing up what she was working on, Fang spoke up, "Well, I take it I'm the first one up for watch tonight, so you guys go get some shut eye."

"Okay!" Vanille chirped as she happily took off to get some rest nearby Sazh.

However, Lightning and Snow did not move.

"Actually, Fang, I think you should get some rest too. I'll take watch all night, I know I won't be able to sleep," Lightning replied.

Fang opened her mouth and was about to say something in protest, but Snow spoke up and cut her off before she could say a word, "I'll stay up too. I'm pretty sure this kid is gonna keep me up all night worrying over him."

Fang sighed and gave in, "Alright. But if you need anything don't hesitate to wake me, got it?"

They both nodded in understanding, and the brunette combatant bedded down beside Vanille.

Fang, Vanille, and Sazh fell asleep almost as quickly as Hope had; they must have been tired out from the travelling they did in search of the remedies. Once they realized that all of their comrades were deep in slumber, the soon-to-be siblings got comfortable around Hope. Snow sat at Hope's left side, one knee on the ground and the other propped upright with his arm rested atop it. Lightning had thrust her gunblade firmly into the grass and soil, giving her something sturdy to lean into. With her back to her sword, she sat at the boy's right side with her legs straight out in front of her and her arms folded over her chest as she continuously watched over the sleeping form of Hope.

Snow glanced up at the young woman across from him and thought for a moment before breaking the silence, "Hey, uh, Light?"

She didn't move her gaze but responded, "Hm," to signify that he had her attention.

"You think Hope's gonna be okay?" he questioned, worry evident in his usually optimistic demeanor.

Lightning looked up at him, taken aback at his sudden change of mood. The entire time she had known this man, not once did he doubt or worry, and yet here he was, worried over a young boy he had only known for a short amount of time.

She contemplated her reply for a minute before answering, "Yes. I don't have a doubt in my mind. And I have you to blame for that," she stated seriously as she looked back down at Hope.

For a second, Snow wasn't sure of the manner of her response, but as soon as Lightning felt his gaze on her, she turned to him and gave him a playful smirk, which resulted in one from him as well.

"You're right. He's a tough kid, isn't he," Snow stated with a chuckle.

Lightning smiled, "Yeah… yeah, he is."

||0||

The night passed by in a flash. Hope woke up startled and shaking a few times, but they were able to lull him back to sleep. The next day, Fang and Vanille continued to feed him plenty of medicine, and they also tended to his minor scratch wound on his arm from the gorgonopsids.

A few days passed by and Hope was finally starting to get well. The Pulsian natives were astonished at how quickly he recovered. Honestly, they were surprised that he recovered at all, but they wouldn't dare say that aloud.

Another couple of days passed by and Hope was on his feet and ready to keep going with their journey. It wasn't long before Snow started up teasing him again about feeling weak after surviving a life-threatening illness. Hope smiled, for he truly, for the first time, felt at home and in place here, with his friends. He didn't feel like he was a burden or a weakling or anything of the sort, he finally realized that he _could_, and most certainly _would_, keep up with his companions.

He looked forward to the day that they faced their fate and were rid of their l'Cie curse.

||0||

_Battles we can win, our struggle lies within._

||0||

* * *

_**End.**_


End file.
